Triticale (X
Triticosecale) is an artificial hybrid of rye and wheat
first bred in laboratories during the late 19th century,
but only recently developed into a viable crop.
Depending on the variety, triticale can resemble either
parent or have characteristics of both. Today, it is
cultivated mostly for forage and animal feed but some
triticale foods can be purchased at health food stores
or in some breakfast cereals.

The grain of wheat,
rye and triticale. Triticale grains are significantly
larger than wheat.The word itself is a fusion of the
Latin words triticum ("wheat") and secale ("rye"). When
crossing wheat and rye, wheat is used as the female
parent and rye as the male. Because the resulting
hybrids are sterile, they have to be treated with the
alkaloid colchicine to make them
fertile.

Commercially available triticale is
almost always a second-generation hybrid, i.e. a
crossing between two kinds of
triticale.

Triticale was originally bred in
Scotland and Sweden in the late 19th century, but only
recently have viable crops been developed. Triticale
mixes the high yield and good properties for baking of
wheat with the resistance to harsh climate and the low
requirements for soil quality of rye.

The primary
producers of triticale are Germany, France, Poland,
Australia, Portugal, the U.S., the Commonwealth of
Independent States, and Brazil. In 2004, according to
the Food and Agriculture Organization, 13.7 million tons
of triticale were harvested. However, triticale as a
crop is still relatively unknown by the general
populace.

Fictional triticales
The
popular Star Trek episode, The Trouble with
Tribbles revolved around the protection of a grain
developed from triticale, quadrotriticale. A later
episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series dealt with
quintotriticale. Both grains exist only in the Star Trek
universe. The science fiction-themed video game Metroid
Prime mentions deca-triticale, probably as an homage to
Star Trek.